Some worthy people maintained, for instance, that
the moon was an ancient comet, which, whilst travelling
along its elongated orbit round the sun, passed near
to the earth, and was retained in her circle of attraction.
The drawing-room astronomers pretended to explain thus
the burnt aspect of the moon, a misfortune of which
they accused the sun. Only when they were told
to notice that comets have an atmosphere, and that
the moon has little or none, they did not know what
to answer.
Others belonging to the class of “Shakers”
manifested certain fears about the moon; they had
heard that since the observations made in the times
of the Caliphs her movement of revolution had accelerated
in a certain proportion; they thence very logically
concluded that an acceleration of movement must correspond
to a diminution in the distance between the two bodies,
and that this double effect going on infinitely the
moon would one day end by falling into the earth.
However, they were obliged to reassure themselves
and cease to fear for future generations when they
were told that according to the calculations of Laplace,
an illustrious French mathematician, this acceleration
of movement was restricted within very narrow limits,
and that a proportional diminution will follow it.
Thus the equilibrium of the solar world cannot be
disturbed in future centuries.
Lastly there was the superstitious class of ignoramuses
to be dealt with; these are not content with being
ignorant; they know what does not exist, and about
the moon they know a great deal. Some of them
considered her disc to be a polished mirror by means
of which people might see themselves from different
points on the earth, and communicate their thoughts
to one another. Others pretended that out of 1,000
new moons 950 had brought some notable change, such
as cataclysms, revolutions, earthquakes, deluges,
&c.; they therefore believed in the mysterious influence
of the Queen of Night on human destinies; they think
that every Selenite is connected by some sympathetic
tie with each inhabitant of the earth; they pretend,
with Dr. Mead, that she entirely governs the vital
system—that boys are born during the new
moon and girls during her last quarter, &c., &c.
But at last it became necessary to give up these vulgar
errors, to come back to truth; and if the moon, stripped
of her influence, lost her prestige in the minds of
courtesans of every power, if some turned their backs
on her, the immense majority were in her favour.
As to the Yankees, they had no other ambition than
that of taking possession of this new continent of
the sky, and to plant upon its highest summit the
star-spangled banner of the United States of America.
CHAPTER VII.
THE HYMN OF THE CANNON-BALL.
The Cambridge Observatory had, in its memorable letter
of October 7th, treated the question from an astronomical
point of view—the mechanical point had
still to be treated. It was then that the practical
difficulties would have seemed insurmountable to any
other country but America; but there they were looked
upon as play.
